Computer Lab

I didn't even know this place existed, so I found out a lot.  If I ever have to use a digital camera or video camera for a class project I'll now know where to go.  For this class, it would be a nice alternative to the upstairs portion of the library.  I do most of my homework in the library anyway, so it's good to know of an alternative spot to get this stuff done.  I did not know we even had an HD video conferencing system and that students can use it, or that even the lights in the classroom were controlled by touchscreen systems that this center has set up. I guess I don't pay much attention... I knew they were pushing some button.  Anyway, I haven't used this place before and this is my first time here.  All in all it seems like a very helpful place.

Working with Excel

Before starting this class, I had a pathological fear of Excel.  Maybe it was because of this horrible computer class I took my freshman year of high school, where the teacher expected us to have some innate knowledge of functions and graphs.  So, basically what I've learned so far is how to actually use Excel, which before was this giant blank in my mind (thank you, Professor Belisle).  I'm not sure exactly how it would be useful within the areas I want to study (Literature), but if it ever is needed it's nice knowing how to use the parts we've learned.  I could definitely use it to calculate grades or my GPA, if I ever get obsessed enough.  I really find the finance part of it helpful, so I think it will be most useful for me with accounting, because, most likely, if I end up a teacher I'll never be able to afford to pay someone else to do it (sadly).  All in all, I'm glad I'm learning it and that all my panic is gone.

Public Image Ltd.

Image and marketing seem to go hand in hand, and I chose this picture of illustrator Clement Hurd and his vanished cigarette because I think it's subtle enough to be overlooked among the other glaringly obvious examples floating around.  This photo comes from a newer edition of Goodnight Moon, the kids classic, where the cigarette has been removed most likely due to the modern (I think justifiable) angst over smoking, plus the children's book context.  I think this is harmful in one specific way: if a kid notices that the illustrator of a book they love smoked, this could open up a dialogue about the issue of smoking.  It could be an opportunity for a good segue into a discussion about it, why it's bad, how it used to be perceived and now isn't, etc.  This reminds me of the recent issue of replacing one very prominent and offensive racial slur in Huckleberry Finn with "Slave."  Reading it from our modern context, with this bigotry still in it it can open up a useful dialogue about race.  I think the same goes with smoking here.  It seems like we're sacrificing these dialogues for being untroubled as consumers, as being untroubled makes things easier when casting your monetary vote.  That's obviously what the people in the boardrooms, at least in these two cases, counted on.  Anyway, would you really believe some eighteen year old who's about to light up tell you their doing it because of Clement Hurd?

Related to consumerism and image manipulation: the video.  I felt this one was a good example of image manipulation via make-up and photoshop of a middle-aged woman, which was something I was searching for.  I think there is a big problem in this country of how to deal image-wise with aging, especially with women.  Think of all the consumption this drives: botox, plastic surgery, wrinkle reducers, etc, which are all signs of how pervasive this anxiety is.  I know part of it is biology and being hardwired to like youth, but can't we accept intellectually the fact of growing old and not cover it up like this?:

The Grey Area

    Regarding the law and the internet, there is bound to be a very large grey area that exists between the laws on the books and the practice of enforcing those laws.  In the case of suicide and medical ethics, which already has substantial preexisting confusion, this zone is bound to be rendered even more ambiguous.  In the situation where a person diagnosed with major depression reads a personal blog of a medical student providing information for mentally competent, terminally ill people on how to commit suicide, who then commits suicide herself citing such information as useful to her carrying-out of the act, certain specifics need to be addressed.
    Regarding medical ethics, the most likely area that would have any relevance to this situation is the act of physician-assisted suicide, although this in itself is a stretch because, by definition, neither is the medical student a physician nor the suicide a patient even if that student was indeed a physician.  The former point negates the entire argument, and would leave it up to the medical school to decide disciplinary action.  But, lets say, the physician’s oath extended into the pre-M.D. ethics as well, or, that the medical student is considered a practicing physician. The question then becomes “Does this person count as a patient?”  This seems to be the relationship that current medical ethics regarding this issue is predicated on; that, in the doctor-patient relationship, assisted suicide relates to four specific areas of intervention:

1. active, involuntary: the physician intentionally kills a patient contrary to the wishes of the patient
2. active, voluntary: the physician intentionally kills the patient in accordance with the wishes of the patient
3. passive, involuntary: the physician lets the patient die by refraining from interventions, contrary to the wishes of the patient
4. passive, voluntary: the physician lets the patient die by refraining from interventions which would be useless in any case, in accordance with the wishes of the patient  (University of Illinois)

None of these covers the kind of indirect relationship noted above in the girl’s suicide in the strictest sense of the ethical code, even if the student was counted as a practicing physician.
    An extension of this argument could be put forth for the parents. The pertinent question for them would be “Did they directly cause their daughter to commit suicide?”  The specifics of this question depends upon the state criminal laws cited, so lets look at a specific state, say, Oregon (which has been in the news for assisted suicide, at least in the medical context).  Aiding or causing a suicide falls under the law for manslaughter in the second degree, which is a felony, so the criminal sentencing for this offense in fact extends across the county.  According to the state of Oregon, this felony offense is defined as such if a “person intentionally causes or aids another person to commit suicide” ("OregonLaws.org).  Here, again, the emphasis is on intention.  If the family did not intentionally act to promote the girl’s suicide, they cannot be convicted of the crime under which aiding suicide falls.  Now, are they bad parents for allowing her to have unrestricted web access?  This is another very large grey zone, with individual and off-the-books morals coming into play.  If she was thirteen, you would probably say they had some responsibility as parents, but if she was nineteen and just happened to be living with them you would probably say their responsibility was far less.  In any case, although you could perhaps reproach them, you could not convict them.
    As for the girl, was it her responsibility?  Suicide by definition does mean killing oneself, but responsibility implies knowledge of right and wrong, which are themselves unstable concepts.  The rightness or wrongness of suicide is something up in the air these days.  However, lets assume for the sake of argument it is undoubtedly wrong.  If she was suffering from depression severe enough to drive her to suicide, is she a person capable of deciding if she should do the right thing?  If so, and if she is in such despair, why should the wrong thing hurt her more than the disease?  I don’t have the answers to this, and most people would probably admit the same.

Works Cited:

"Topics: Physician-Assisted Suicide." University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 13 Feb 2011. <http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/ethics/suicide.htm>.

"Manslaughter in the Second Degree." OregonLaws.org. Robb Shecter, n.d. Web. 13 Feb 2011. <https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/163.125>.

Copyright and Fair Use

The most useful thing I took from the lecture on copyright was that anyone can sue you for anything.  I knew civil law regarding copyright could be stringent, but I didn't think it was that stringent.  However, it's good to know there are a few protections for people who want to work with copyrighted material, such as Fair Use.  If classrooms want to stay relevant, I think such a policy that protects the teachers from legal action when using media is essential.  I guess you could say that if a work is disseminated among students (such as a copy of a film being discussed, or something), those students would have no reason to pay for the work; but I think this position overlooks the fact that in an educational setting not everyone has equal access to a copy for whatever reason, especially if it is a public secondary school.  In such a setting, it makes more sense for the school or teacher providing the education to also provide the material (like textbooks in public school).  Infringing on education seems to me more like a nuisance than a protection of property.

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